Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request

Questions relating to money laundering offences within the last three years.

Request

1. In each of the last 3 years how many prosecutions has the CPS made for any money laundering offences.
2. In each of the last 3 years how many money laundering investigations have been undertaken by the CPS where the proceeds of crime either were some form of cryptocurrency or had otherwise been converted into some form of cryptocurrency.
3. In each of the last 3 years what is the total value of money and/or assets which have been confiscated as proceeds of crime following convictions pursued by the CPS. Subsequently you clarified on 25 April 2019 the following: Question 3 pertains to prosecutions only in relation to money laundering offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
4. In each of the last 3 years has the CPS been involved in the seizure / confiscation of any cryptocurrency as the proceeds of crime and, if so, what was the total value of the overall sum of cryptocurrency confiscated (either expressed as £GBP or, if easier, in total units of cryptocurrency, for example 1,000 bitcoins).

Response

- The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) hold a better source of statistics, therefore we suggest that you refer this element of your request to them. Please see MoJ contact details below.

  data.access@justice.gov.uk

- This is not a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as we do not undertake investigations. Please direct your request to the relevant Law Enforcement Agencies/Forces who do undertake investigations.

- Please see response to question one. The CPS does not hold a central record of the information requested as it is not possible to breakdown the overall annual values confiscated by those that relate to cryptocurrency. In order to ascertain this information for the last three years a manual review of case files would need to be undertaken.

Section 12(1) of the FOI Act means public authorities are not obliged to comply with a request for information if it estimates the cost of complying would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit for central government it is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3.5 working days determining whether the department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

We believe that the cost of reviewing 3225 cases would exceed the appropriate limit. Consequently, we are not obliged to comply with your request.

Under Section of the FOI Act we have an obligation to advise what, if any, information may assist you with your request. We do hold some data on the number of offences in which a prosecution commenced at magistrates’ courts for the money laundering offences created by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (sections 327 to 333), however in order to provide you with the further information requested i.e. whether there was a prosecution or the total value of money and/or assets which have been confiscated as proceeds of crime following convictions pursued by the CPS, this is likely to trigger Section 12(1) as outlined above.

Information Management Unit 020 3357 0899 IMU@cps.gov.uk